Mike Barth (aka THE ENEMY WITHIN) rode a roller-coaster as his Colts pick in Circa Survivor ultimately lost and eliminated him from the record $6.133 million pool.
“We were well-hedged, so we’re fine,” Barth, who was watching the game with his wife in Circa Sports owner Derek Stevens’ VIP area at Circa, said to VSiN and everyone else who came by to offer their condolences (and he was sure that would be the first question everyone wanted to ask).
The Colts rallied from a 17-7 halftime deficit and took a 28-24 lead with 10:30 left in the fourth quarter. After the Colts added a FG for a 31-24 lead with 3:33 left in regulation, Barth just needed a stop from the Colts defense to clinch a share of the jackpot. The Texans faced 4th-and-13 at the Indianapolis 49-yard line and converted with a 30-yard Davis Mills-to-Brandin Cook pass right along the sideline.
The Texans again moved backward and had 4th-and-20 at the Colts’ 28. Under extreme pressure, MIlls lofted up a jump-ball that was grabbed by TE Jordan Atkins for the touchdown. “Just knock it down!” Barth muttered in frustration.
The Texans then converted the 2-point conversion for the 32-31 lead with 50 seconds to play but the Colts were unable to get past midfield and a Hail Mary fell incomplete to eliminate THE ENEMY WITHIN.
“The overall experience was great, and in the grand scheme of things I was very fortunate to be in the situation we were in” said the 60-year-old Barth, 60, owns Fast Forward Marketing in Houston and is a custom trophy supplier for auto racing (NASCAR, IndyCar).
Circa Survivor drew a record 6,133 entries at $1,000 apiece this season with players picking one NFL winner a week without using any team twice. The contest also has extra “Thanksgiving” and “Christmas” week so the three finalists were 19-0 heading into NFL Week 18.
Barth passed on using the Jaguars or Vikings (who both won) with his last pick as he said he thought they were vulnerable favorites.
“It was a poor pick at the end of the day, as I thought [Sam] Ehlinger would do better and the Colts would run the ball against the Texans’ poor run defense.”
Barth said he still had hope when the Colts fell down by 10 points (“that was due to the pick six and felt the Colts would still win”). He was right as the Colts rallied but they weren’t able to close out the win.
Barth’s elimination means than JED (Mike Buchmiller, the 50-year-old dean of athletics at The Alexander Dawson School in Las Vegas) needs the Seahawks to beat the Rams in the Sunday afternoon game to split the pool with BROWNA (who win with the Jaguars on Saturday) or BROWNA will win the entire $6.133 million.
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